Shayan Akhtar Sets World Record for Microsoft Professional Certificate: ProPakistani

Shayan Akhtar Sets World Record for Microsoft Professional Certificate
High Court Dismisses PTCL’s Appeal Against PTA Order
What is This Poker Ad Doing on Daily Times Website?
Does This 3G Ad (for Afghanistan) Hurt you?

Shayan Akhtar Sets World Record for Microsoft Professional Certificate

Posted: 25 May 2012 04:17 AM PDT

Shayan Anique Akhtar, a student from Haveli, Okara, has set a new world record by scoring 998 marks out of total 1,000 in a Microsoft Professional Certificate programme.

Shayan Anique Akhtar, also made it to Guinness Book of World Records for this achievement, reported The News, citing a report aired by Geo TV.

Shayan Akhtar is said to invited by Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft. Reports say that Shayan Akhtar is flying in July this year to meet Bill Gates.

Shayan Akhtar, who is waiting for his matriculation results, started making computer and mobile games back in 2009. He is also a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP), Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) and Microsoft Professional Developer (MPD).

Shayaan says that he loves open source development, while his expertise are in windows mobile app and game development.

Shayaan can be followed here:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/shayan_anique
Facebook: http://facebook.com/shayananique
Personal Blog: http://shayananique.com/

High Court Dismisses PTCL’s Appeal Against PTA Order

Posted: 25 May 2012 03:57 AM PDT

The long-standing court case between PTCL and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has finally been decided by the Islamabad High Court in favor of PTA, said a statement issued by authority.

In this decision, Islamabad High Court has dismissed PTCL appeal regarding dispute concerning origination charges on "Non prepaid calling card service" and upheld PTA's decision of 21^st August 2006.

It is clarified that Long Distance and International (LDI) operators are dependent on PTCL's network for connectivity and therefore, are required to pay origination charges to PTCL for providing prepaid calling card services.

The dispute between PTCL and LDI operators arose when PTCL started charging LDI operators for unsuccessful calls as well, thus making businesses of LDIs unviable.

PTCL took the view that since the calls have been responded by Interactive Voice Response (IVR) using PTCL's resources, therefore the duration used for IVR should be considered as a successful call. LDI operators were of the view that the terms and conditions given in Reference Interconnection Offer (RIO) of PTCL do not address the said issue in such manner and they should not be charged for that service for which they cannot charge their subscribers. Moreover, they also argued that PTCL was not charging pre-call connection duration used for IVR from its O&M partners, therefore, it is a clear discrimination.

PTA, being the telecom regulator, took up the issue with LDI operators and PTCL. In this regard, detailed consultations, meetings and deliberations were held with the industry.

International references were also studied by PTA and detailed calculations were made in order to assess and verify claim of both parties. Finally PTA gave determination on 21^st August, 2006 that PTCL shall charge origination charges from LDI operators for both 'Revenue Time' and 'Non-Revenue Time' on calling card traffic after giving 25% discount being a win-win situation for all parties. However, the Determination was challenged by PTCL in the court of law.

The Honorable Islamabad High Court after hearing detailed arguments from PTA and PTCL has now dismissed PTCL's appeal and upheld PTA's Determination by stating that the Determination made by PTA fully reflects all material aspects of the issue, not considered but recorded as well, and the reasoning advanced by PTA is not only cogent but plausible.

This landmark decision by the honorable court will help to build further confidence of industry and general public regarding the fair and transparent decision making process of PTA.

This will also help to revive the business of prepaid calling card which declined during the past few years owning to various factors including this dispute between PTCL and LDI operators. As a result of this decision, the LDI operators will be able to settle their long outstanding dues as well as resume prepaid calling card service for the benefit of general public.

What is This Poker Ad Doing on Daily Times Website?

Posted: 24 May 2012 11:15 PM PDT

If you are an expert on search engine optimization then you will probably know that official website of Daily Times has got most authoritative domain name in Pakistan, after Dawn.com of course. Yes Daily Times domain authority is higher than Tribune, The News or Daily Jang for that matter.

Domain Authority predicts how well a web page will rank in search engine results. It tells about the strength of a domain name in comparison to other domains. The higher the domain authority is, the more likely it is that the domain will rank high in the search results.

Such a rich domain like Daily Times is considered as a gold mine in internet world. People will pay you thousands of dollars (per month) for a text link on your website, because a link from high authority domain can bring you tons of search engine juice. A site wide link will translate into even higher payouts.

Just imagine, how much rich you can get if you get the control of such a high powered domain name?

This is exactly what Daily Times is doing. They are selling site-wide text links, with which I am fine – if they sell links, that's their decision. But selling a link to a poker and Casino website is something I would not expect from such an organization.

If you don't believe me than have a look at following screen shot. Or go to dailytimes.com.pk and check yourself.

Just to clarify, this act (of selling a link to poker website) could be from the webmaster only, and not from the organization. But who knows?

Does This 3G Ad (for Afghanistan) Hurt you?

Posted: 24 May 2012 10:48 PM PDT

This above ad is being advertised on Google network by Etisalat Afghanistan for its newly launched 3G services. You call it bad strategy that it is appearing in Pakistan (on websites with adsense enabled, such as here on ProPakistani) but it could be a purposeful and planned act by Etisalat to enhance the image of its telecom arm in Afghanistan.

Whatever the reasons are behind displaying this ad in Pakistan, but it might not look that pleasant to Pakistani audience, who are deprived of 3G just because operators don't find 3G viable enough.

Just in case in you aren't familiar, Afghanistan has got its first 3G network through Etisalat. This is exactly what the above ad is advertising about: "High-Speed Internet has Arrived".

ARPU (Average Revenue Per User), economic situation, inflation, law and order situation, internet adaptability, smartphone penetration and all other concerning factors in Afghanistan are seemingly not any better than Pakistan.

In such a situation, how does this AD feel like to you? when Afghanistan has a 3G network while it still seems like a distant dream here in Pakistan.

You can share your thoughts in below comments.

world on your screen

Friday, May 25, 2012